Looking for a good book? Have an affinity for page-turners that never run out of pages?

May we suggest the Baseball Encyclopedia.

In printed form, it is the approximate weight of Cecil Fielder’s left leg. Online, it bytes off more than anyone can chew at one sitting. Between its covers — cyber or otherwise — is the record of every player who ever appeared in a major league baseball game.

This is the story of who they are — names, nicknames, dates and places; where they came from, what they did, how long they did it. There’s a story for every row of ciphers and every fistful of factoids. Here is a sampling:

You knew that Lou Gehrig was known as the Iron Horse. Did you also know he occasionally (and reluctantly, one presumes) answered to “Biscuit Pants?” What do you suppose he ate for breakfast?

Pitcher Bill Champion pitched eight seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers, and never played on a team with a winning record.

The National League was a tough outfit in the Gay ’90s. Dave “Scissors” Foutz managed the Brooklyn Grooms from 1893-96, recorded a .507 winning percentage, yet never finished higher than fifth place.

One of Foutz’s best players was a first baseman named Candy LaChance.

If you had never heard of A’s owner Charlie Finley’s experiment with the designated runner, you’d be hard-pressed to make sense of Herb Washington’s statistical entry: 105 games in 1974-75, 0 at-bats, 33 runs, 31 stolen bases (in 48 attempts), one World Series ring.

Hack Wilson hit a National League-record 56 home runs in 1930, and just 51 in four seasons after that before retiring.

The nickname game: According to a search on baseball-reference.com, the major leagues have known 45 Mickeys, 30 Babes, nine Buckys, five Dizzys, two Daffys and 13 Duckys.

Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson hit 41 triples during his career. Hall of Fame hitter Eddie Murray hit 35.

Charlie Hickman, a 1900s-era infielder, was known as “Piano Legs” — not so much for his footspeed (72 stolen bases in 12 seasons), but for his defense (86 errors at third base for the Giants in 1900).

There have been seven major leaguers who went by “Skinny.” Their average weight: 168 pounds.

That’s three pounds more than Joe “Horse Belly” Sargent, who checked in at a whopping 165 pounds during his 66-game cup of coffee with Detroit in 1921.

There have been poor-hitting pitchers, but few have approached the offensive impotency achieved by Bob Buhl in 1962, when he went 0-for-70 for the Milwaukee Braves and Chicago Cubs. On the bright side, he stole a base, scored two runs, hit a sacrifice fly and was inexplicably hit by a pitch.

Bob Buhl is not to be confused with Bob Uhl, who pitched in one game for the Chicago White Sox in 1938, another for the Detroit Tigers in 1940, and who retired without swinging a bat.

The nickname game II: There have been 13 Smokeys, 13 Rockys, five Porkys, four Corkys and five Cannonballs (all pitchers, naturally).

There have been five Turkeys, four Chickens, five Smileys, four Sleepys, 92 Docs, seven Butchers, 32 Bakers and eight Tinys (three of whom stood taller than 6 feet, and one of whom weighed more than 200 pounds).

You could look it up.